Save me just in time
by General KJ
Summary: A request fic. Phil is keeping a dangerous secret, but his twin sister Lil, and their friends Tommy, Chuckie, Dil and even Angelica will have to try and find out what it is... before it's too late! Rated T for violence and mild language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Stop right there… I know what you're thinkin… I'm in waaaaaay over my head, starting this story when I've already got 3 unfinished ones. But you'll just have to role with it, I've not all that much time to update lately, but this was a request from a friend who has been reading some Rugrats/All grown up fics recently and they ask me to write this because there apparently aren't enough Phil/Lil, brother/sister fics… clearly I've made an impression on people and earned my style as family fics :)**

**Anyway… enough of my excuses, let's get on with it, shall we? :)**

**Title is a lyric (once again) from the song 'Hero' by 'Skillet'…I love this song :)**

**If you can't guess, this is set in the 'All grown up' series.**

**Chapter 1**

Phil DeVille trudged across the muddy soccer field, towards his school, trying not to get bogged down in the dirt he usually loved so much. Rain poured down his face and drenched his messed up hair and torn clothes. His normally bright red sneakers were covered in mud, the white laces coated from end to end in the sticky, brown sludge.

He paused momentarily to look up at his destination: the grey, east wall of the school building. He sighed, nobody was around because it was raining… oh, and he was an hour late. The clouds continued to pour everything they had on the muddy teenagers head. Looking up at the sky, Phil saw nothing but dark clouds and falling water, until a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, followed closely behind by the rumble of thunder.

"Great, just great." Phil grimaced.

He returned his gaze to his feet as he attempted to pull one of them out of the mud, barely being able to lift his leg. His foot came free with a plop as the mud continued to slosh around his ankles. But as he tried the same with the other foot, his shoe came off in the mud. He had to put his sock-clad foot down on the mud in order to bend over to reach his shoe. He carefully reached down and grabbed hold of his stray sneaker and gave it a sharp tug.

It wasn't stuck as much as he initially thought, but it was too late for that now. He went tumbling backwards into another mud puddle.

He sat there for a moment, sighing again, not having the energy to get back up again. He looked around himself at the entire mud-covered field and remembered the good old days where he and his friends would have rolled around in the mud for hours. Unfortunately, they had all but grown out of that in the many years since their baby days.

Other than that, none of them had really changed much. Tommy was still the leader, Chuckie was still the cautious one, Angelica was still mean to everyone, he and Lil were still just as close as before and Dil was still annoying. All in all, still the same group of mismatched friends they were back when they had exciting adventures in diapers.

It was then that Phil was brought out of his reverie by the cold sensation of muddy water soaking into his clothes. He was, after all, sat in a puddle of water, that went part way up his back and down his thighs, and he was leaning on his totally submerged hands.

He started to get up, twisting as he did, so he was, once again, facing the old school building he was supposed to be in over an hour ago. He picked up his shoe in his assent but didn't bother to put it on, his sock was already dirty and he would only risk losing it again. He picked up his backpack which, fortunately, had landed just past the puddle, and was still moderately dry considering the pouring rain.

He looked up at the sky one last time, letting the rain wash over his mud-splattered face, before continuing his slow trudge toward the school.

By the time he got there, the clock in the school hall told him that he was over an hour and a half late. He considered skipping the rest of his class to change and get clean and dry. Until he realized, today was not gym day, so he had nothing to change into. Deciding that a warm classroom would be better than the freezing, damp, slightly sweat-smelling corridors of the school, he headed toward his lesson, hoping that he would be too late to take part in whatever activities they might be doing.

As he arrived at the door to his chemistry class, he could see the warm glow of the classroom penetrating the darkness of the corridor, reaching for the handle, he tried to slip in silently whilst everyone inside bustled about packing equipment away. He assumed they had just finished doing a practical, which didn't help his mood because that was the only part of chemistry he really liked and they didn't do it often.

People started to sit down in their respective seats. He could see his seat from the door and figured he could get there before everyone finished sitting down. As he opened the door it creaked louder than a falling tree in a silent forest.

_Damn it! _He mentally cursed as everyone turned to look at him coming in. He forced a sheepish smile as at least 20 pairs of eyes watched the mud-covered boy make his way to his seat. As he neared his seat his eyes met their exact duplicates in the form of his twin sister Lil. But whereas his contained some slight embarrassment, hers contained a form of concern and worry, mixed with a smidgen of relief.

Phil quickly sat down in an attempt to escape the stares of his classmates. A booming voice suddenly sounded above the silence.

"Alright students, get that equipment packed away quickly or you can all be late to break!" The teacher shouted, once he too had stopped staring at Phil.

The teacher made his way over to Phil's desk. Upon arriving, he leant on it with one hand. It creaked slightly under his weight.

"Honestly Mr DeVille, I really don't understand why you bothered turning up to my lesson at all, and especially looking like that!" He commented in a slightly caring way, masked by his tough teacher façade.

"Sorry sir." Phil whispered, barely audible.

The teacher just shook his head and made his way back to the board at the front.

Lil was sat next to her brother and leant over to talk to him, before she was interrupted by the teacher's bellowing once again.

"Take your seats students, your homework will be to write up your results from today's experiment. Miss DeVille, please bring Philip up to speed with our investigation."

"Yes sir." Lil replied.

Phil hated it when anyone other than Lil or his mom called him Philip… Well, actually, he hated it when his mom did it as well, because it usually meant he was in trouble. But he was in no mood to argue, plus the whole teacher student formality crap would mean he would be fighting a losing battle.

"Then you are all dismissed!" The teacher shouted.

As each and every student began to gather his or her belongings and head out the door, Phil stood up, but Lil grabbed his arm and Tommy came up in front of him.

"What happened dude?" He asked.

"Oh, nothin, I just got up late and had to cut across the soccer field."

Big mistake!

"No you didn't," Lil's voice interrupted from behind him, "you left just before me, but went down Oak Avenue instead of our normal route!"

Uh oh… the only downside to having a twin… or at least the only one Phil could think of.

"Uh… yeah… I got up late-er than I was meant to, I wanted to take a leisurely morning stroll." Phil lied through gritted teeth.

He was desperately hoping they would buy his bull, but he doubted it, neither of them were thick.

They both looked at one another skeptically, but just decided to drop it for now. Phil knew they would both be trying to find out what really happened, using separate and joined attempts to work it into conversation.

At least he knew they were both such good friends of his that they cared enough to not listen to him when he was talking out his ass…

…but he also wasn't about to give up a secret that easily…

**A/N: Ooh, suspense what could it be? Who knows? But the brother/sister fluff will start shortly… cause that's just the kind of loving caring twins they are :)**

**I'm a review whore and proud of it… I get a tingly feeling when I get e-mails about reviews for my stories :)**

**Or just message me if you have opinions or just wanna chat… I'm a friendly guy :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Roll up, roll up… Take your seats ladies and gentlemen… Update number 3 in 24 hours comin up right here right now!**

**Just quickly wanna give a wave to my Mexican readers… all 1 of you… in every story I write I always have a single Mexican reader, I don't know if you're the same person but… Gracias mi amigo, agradezco su lectura de mis historias en nombre de su país… anyway, that's enough Spanish for me today… on with the show :)**

**Chapter 2**

Phil was rummaging angrily through his locker… they'd already been through it. They'd gotten everything they said they would, plus extra. Fortunately Chuckie had gym first thing today. Because of the rain they stayed inside and seeing as Chuckie didn't do much during gym anyway, his kit was still pretty clean. So he leant it to Phil to wear for the day.

Just as he was about to explode, Tommy came up next to him, so he had to keep his cool for now.

"What happened to those pictures of you and Lil you usually keep on the inside of your locker door?" Tommy asked, confused.

"I took 'em home yesterday." Phil lied, closing his locker door.

"Really? I'm pretty sure they were in there when you closed it yesterday before we left." Tommy questioned.

"Yes… really!" Phil retorted angrily.

"Is there somethin you wanna talk about?" Tommy said, trying to be caring for his friend, he knew something was wrong.

"THERE'S NOTHING _TO _TALK ABOUT PICKLES!" Phil shouted, punching his locker as hard as could; leaving a dent in it.

Nearly everybody in the corridor stopped what they were doing to stare at Phil and Tommy. Phil was breathing heavily, trying to calm himself down. Tommy looked around at everyone, slightly embarrassed by his friend's outburst.

"Then perhaps we should go and talk about nothing somewhere where there are not quite so many people." Tommy suggested, lowering his voice a little, so at least not everyone in the corridor could hear what he was saying.

Phil regained control of his breathing and realized that Tommy would probably get it out of him eventually and that he'd rather he let it out where no one else would hear what he has to say.

"Fine." He whispered.

And with that, he started to make his way outside, with Tommy following close behind. Everybody's eyes watched the two boys leave as people started to get back to whatever it was they were doing before.

As Phil and Tommy got outside, Phil rounded the corner of the building and slumped down against the wall beside a horrible smelling dumpster that had flies buzzing all around it.

"You sure know how to pick a place." Tommy commented with mock disgust.

Phil just sighed and stared straight ahead at the passing cars. Tommy sat down beside him and leaned against the wall as well.

"So…" Tommy started but did not finish.

"So…" Phil repeated.

There was a moment of silence before Tommy thought of something to say.

"Is there a problem Phil? Ya know we can help if you just tell us what's wrong."

Phil didn't give a response straight away, he continued to stare ahead, mulling over whether or not he should Tommy, or in fact, exactly _what _he would tell him.

"It's not that simple Tommy." He said solemnly.

"Oh…" Tommy replied, dejectedly, "…Isn't there anything we can do?"

Another moment of silence passed before Phil responded again.

"Not really, not that I can think of." Phil said, sighing again.

"Well, maybe if you tell me what happened, I could think of a way to help you."

Phil thought it over in his head, weighing up whether or not it would help the situation at all if he told Tommy what happened this morning. Tommy just sat there, looking at him, waiting for him to respond, he would sit there quietly until Phil told him. Phil inhaled deeply and then exhaled just as much.

"Alright, but you can't tell anyone else!" Phil demanded.

"Not even Lil?" Tommy asked.

"Especially not Lil!" Phil almost growled, pointing his finger menacingly at his friend.

"But I thought you told each other everything." Tommy said, confused.

"Not this time," Phil responded, "now can I trust you or not?"

"Of course, not a word about this will leave my lips." Tommy promised, crossing his heart.

"Alright then, he goes…" Phil started… But he was interrupted by the school bell.

He turned to look at Tommy, who just stared back at him blankly.

"Are you not going to go to class?" Phil asked quizzically.

"Not when a friend has something important on their mind and it's bothering them, which it seems to be." Tommy answered matter-of-factly.

"Alright…" Phil continued, "It started this morning…"

_(Flashback mode)_

_Phil was woken up by a loud and annoying buzzing sound next to his head. He lifted his head ever so slightly from his pillow so that he could twist it to look at his phone on the table next to his bed. He noticed Lil's bed was empty and just assumed she was in the shower or having breakfast._

_He picked up his phone and looked into it as the bright backlight from the screen shone directly into his eyes, almost blinding him in his half asleep state. He saw the message on the screen… 1 SMS, unknown number. Intrigued, he picked it up and opened the text. What he saw nearly made his eyes pop out of their sockets… Samantha Shane had text him, asking him to meet her before school in the alley, down the side of their school._

_He immediately jumped out of bed and pulled on the nearest set of clothes he could get his hands on. He then slicked his hair back in the mirror and grabbed his backpack from beside the door before running downstairs, grabbing a slice of toast off the table as he headed out the door._

_He started to head towards the school but taking a slight detour to take him round the side, where the alley's entrance was. As he approached the alley a cold breeze suddenly whipped past him and down the alley. He set off down the track hoping to see the girl he'd been crushing on for a year now. But instead he saw nothing. He got about midway before he decided she probably got cold and headed for school instead._

_As he turned around a tall dark figure stepped out of the shadows into his path. He recognized the dimly lit features of one of the school bullies; Cameron. But Cameron was merely a henchman, which meant at least one more would show up in the next few seconds. True to his thoughts, another figure stepped up behind Cameron, another tall guy; Will. But again, not the leader. Phil swiftly turned back the other way and tried to run, but immediately crashed into yet another bulky form and tumbled to the ground… this time he knew who it was without even looking up. This was Dirk…He definitely was the leader._

"_Watch where you're goin DeVille!" Dirk exclaimed as Phil picked himself up._

"_What are you doing here and what do you want Dirk?!" Phil growled at him._

"_Did your mommy never teach you not to listen to texts from unknown numbers?!" Cameron taunted from behind him._

_Realization had just hit Phil… He'd been set up! Phil didn't say anything, he just frowned._

"_You didn't answer my question!" Phil retorted, trying to act tough._

"_Fair enough." Dirk replied with a sinister grin._

_Phil suddenly wished he hadn't asked._

"_You're gonna be our drug mule," Dirk announced, "and you're gonna do what we say, when we say it! We're gonna make advance payments to our dealer, and you're going to go and collect and deliver for us. Cause we can't risk walking round in public with the stuff!"_

"_And if I refuse?" Phil asked boldly, but immediately wishing he could retract the statement._

_The 3 bullies just started laughing._

"_If you refuse, or if you tell anyone, then we know a certain good looking sister of yours that… well, how should I put this? We gonna 'tap that'!" He grinned._

"_Ha!" Phil exclaimed, "you think she'd do anything with you guys?!"_

"_She wouldn't have a choice!" Dirk growled, still smiling evilly._

_A heavy frown adorned Phil's face, nobody talked like that about his twin sister! He ran full speed towards Dirk, attempting to tackle him, but Dirk just batted him aside with the back of his beefy hand. As he lay sprawled on the floor, Cameron and Will piled on him and started laying punches into all parts of his body, from his face to his stomach._

"_Boys, that's enough! Ditch him over the fence!" Dirk ordered._

_Following his orders, Cameron grabbed Phil's arms, and Will grabbed his legs. They swung him until he had gained a decent amount of height, before they let go and threw him over the fence. Parts of his clothes caught on the fence as he came down face first into the mud of the far soccer field._

"_Job well done boys!" Dirk exclaimed as they walked off laughing, "We'll be helping ourselves to any valuables you have in your locker DeVille."_

_Phil just lay there for a few minutes, trying to regain his breath. They had knocked the wind out of him, and he would need all the air he could get; he had to cross the lengths of several soccer fields before he even got close to the school. As he looked up at the grey school it began to rain… heavily… Phil got up and began his long trudge toward the school._

"Wow…" was all Tommy could say, "that would explain your appearance this morning."

"Yeah." Phil said, staring over his curled up knees at his feet.

"…and the photos of you and Lil from your locker?"

"They took em." Phil whispered.

"Well, you've gotta tell someone! A teacher or the police or someone like that!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Were you not listening?! They said I can't tell anyone, and neither can you…" Phil turned and shouted.

"…or else they'll do things to Lil." he whispered.

"So you're just gonna do what they tell you to and risk getting arrested?!" Tommy cried out.

"It's better than the alternative." Phil said to himself.

Tommy felt sorry for his friend. He had been put in a tough position and chosen the option to risk himself in order to take care of his sister. He wasn't sure which decision he would've made in the same situation. He was just thankful he _wasn't_ in that situation. Tommy stood up to go back to however much of his class was left.

"You need to tell someone Phil," he said sadly, "this is dangerous, and you can't do this yourself."

"Just stick to your promise Pickles!" Phil said quietly.

"I will for now. But if you don't tell anyone, and I think you're in danger or gonna get in trouble, then I'll have to tell someone." He said, walking away round the corner.

Phil sat there for a few moments. His eyes welled up and a silent tear slid down his cheek. He wiped it away with the back of his now slightly cleaner hand before getting up to go to his next class.

**A/N: A longer and slightly emotional chapter here, I'm hoping it went down well with you lot… cause if it didn't, I'm pretty much screwed and just wasted exactly 2 hours of my life… so please review so I know it wasn't a waste! :)**

**Still… I hope you enjoyed it, and take a look at my other stories… believe it or not I'm proud of most of them and spent a long time on each. :)**

**P.S. This time, I did have an idea in my head for where I was going with this one so I hope that showed through in the form of some damn good writing and a darn good read. :)**


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